I'm in bad shape.

My FCS2 started having problems finding my camera -- hit and miss. Then it started freezing at the end of capturing, requiring a Force Quit. Then it froze the whole computer, requiring a power down. Basic desktop functions became choppy and slow, even after restarts. I deleted the FCP temp files. No change. I changed the cameras providing the capture. No change. I then performed a clean install of FCP. Same thing.

The only change I did prior to these problems is changing the scratch disk to a new external WD firewire Hard Drive. This drive is identical to a previous drive. The new drive has captured successfully, so I don't think it's the problem. FCS2 is running from a separate internal drive.

Dana,

Problems like this are usually the result of very old cache, temp and system files that need to be cleaned out and, most likely your system directory needs to be repaired as well.

Download the free utility, Onyx and run *all* of the built-in routines. Then run DiskWarrior on your OS drive (if you don't own a copy you can purchase and download it from Alsoft). You'll need to create a bootable disc of DiskWarrior (Alsoft has a free utility to do that when you purchase the program.)

More than likely both of these operations will clear your problems. Let us know if not.

Onyx: http://www.titanium.free.fr/index_us.html

DiskWarrior: http://alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html

Small world: Your company is doing some wedding edits for a close friend of mine @ Vivid Gray.

Jay! Yeah, I've enjoyed working with him.

I appreciate the advice!

I did all I could do with the download, but it still froze during the capture, not responding to the escape key. I was able to trick it by rewinding and playing the tape.